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AS88

Well-Known Member
Staff member
It's entirely up to you. I'd recommend going for more health, though, perhaps invest to 200 and then see how you feel.

Lots of people prefer not to and stick with the basic 100 plus enchantments, but you'll leave yourself liable to getting one-shotted later in game by decent enemies.
 
It's entirely up to you. I'd recommend going for more health, though, perhaps invest to 200 and then see how you feel.

Lots of people prefer not to and stick with the basic 100 plus enchantments, but you'll leave yourself liable to getting one-shotted later in game by decent enemies.

I was thinking of going with the 200 as I was thinking of the getting one shotted possibility. Thanks.
 

NENALATA

Last King of the Ayleids - RETIRED
Seeing how I usually play as one of the Daggerfell races, I put points in Health and Magicka every other level. Then to round everything out, my Magicka/Health buffs are equally invested in Jewelry or Armor/Clothing. I use the "Character Creation Overhaul" mod for Skyrim, so all of these races start the game with plenty of Stamina.

Although if you're deadly serious about making an excellent Battle-mage or Spellsword, Breton is the way to. The only issue with that, is the Bretons don't get much in the way of Combat bonus or abilities. So, you kind of have to re-invent yourself as a Warrior. Whereas Orcs or Redguards are great combatants, however they are somewhat lacking on the arcane side of the house.

Whatever you choose to do, you must have as much health and Heavy/Light armor as possible because one drawback to Skyrim is it's very easy to get sniped by any 2H weapon. Sniped meaning killed instantly. And it doesn't matter how much magic you have, someone else in the game will always be better than you. So, as they say, "Diversify your bonds b*tches". :)
 
Seeing how I usually play as a Breton, Orc or Redguard, I put points in Health and Magicka every other level. Then to round everything out, my Magicka/Health buffs are equally invested in Jewelry or Armor/Clothing. I use the "Character Creation Overhaul" mod for Skyrim, so all of these races start the game with plenty of Stamina.

Although if you're deadly serious about making an excellent Battle-mage or Spellsword, Breton is the way to. The only issue with that, is the Bretons don't get much in the way of Combat bonus or abilities. So, you kind of have to re-invent yourself as a Warrior. Whereas Orcs or Redguards are great combatants, however they are somewhat lacking on the arcane side of the house.

Whatever you choose to do, you must have as much health and Heavy/Light armor as possible because one drawback to Skyrim is it's very easy to get sniped by any 2H weapon. Sniped meaning killed instantly. And it doesn't matter how much magic you have, someone else in the game will always be better than you. So, as they say, "Diversify your bonds b*tches". :)

For the moment I'm playing around with my Altmer Mage which I intend on a pure mage build, thus why I was asking. I already have a pretty good idea for my battle mages. And in terms of a Breton I'm going Necromancer with that one.
 

NENALATA

Last King of the Ayleids - RETIRED
Oh ok. Say, you know of a mod or anything that brandishes a new look for the Altmer in Skyrim? Cause I played primarily an Altmer In Oblivion, and I've tried them in Skyrim but they look awful. Not quite as Noble as before. I've checked around and so far nothing. For your Altmer mage, are you going with Light Armor or as a clothy?
 

AS88

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Oh ok. Say, you know of a mod or anything that brandishes a new look for the Altmer in Skyrim? Cause I played primarily an Altmer In Oblivion, and I've tried them in Skyrim but they look awful. Not quite as Noble as before. I've checked around and so far nothing. For your Altmer mage, are you going with Light Armor or as a clothy?

I am playing my Skyrim on PS3 console. I no gets mods. :sadface: Can't help you out pal.
 

NENALATA

Last King of the Ayleids - RETIRED
Thalmor *Wizards use Light Armor with Robes.


Thx anyways.

(Edited for Lore Comp)
 

AS88

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Thalmor use Light Armor with Robes.

Anyways thx.

Thalmor Soldiers wear light armour and fight like spellswords, which are a warrior/mage hybrid. Thalmor Wizards wear robes, and fight like mages/battlemages.
 

NENALATA

Last King of the Ayleids - RETIRED
Correct. I played around with the char builder and my High Elf doesn't look too bad. I wish someone would come up with a mod like they did for the Bretons which rounds out the body. Makes us look less rigid *lol* if that's even possible. ;)
 

HappyFaceClown

PunkNation
increase health but focus on upping your enchanting, once you get enchanting high enough you can make 2 schools of magic cost "0" to cast, allowing for unlimited spell usage, this is what i always do when building a mage and its pretty easy, magicka pool doesn't matter if the spells don't cost anything, this is why imo investing in the magicka bar is totally useless.. stamina is what you really wanna invest in AND what most people overlook, as it increases both stamina and carry weight.
 

seeker23

Looking for the Snitch in Skyrim...
My query is, should one only increase Magicka? Or should one also increase health?
A bit of health never hurts. If you get into a tight spot you should always have enough health to escape it until you get it under control. So a little bit of extra health never hurts.

...stamina is what you really wanna invest in AND what most people overlook, as it increases both stamina and carry weight.

I agree with you. An early enchanting 100 is quite useful.
I played a pure mage, these days a mage/minor thief. So understand the stamina part for a thief, even minor, and carry weight, for anyone.
Other than carry weight, for what is Stamina useful, for a pure mage that is? I always overlook Stamina for a mage build thinking it's pointless. My character is 78 but Stamina is still 100. You get what I mean. So could you elaborate a bit???
 

HappyFaceClown

PunkNation
My query is, should one only increase Magicka? Or should one also increase health?
A bit of health never hurts. If you get into a tight spot you should always have enough health to escape it until you get it under control. So a little bit of extra health never hurts.

...stamina is what you really wanna invest in AND what most people overlook, as it increases both stamina and carry weight.

I agree with you. An early enchanting 100 is quite useful.
I played a pure mage, these days a mage/minor thief. So understand the stamina part for a thief, even minor, and carry weight, for anyone.
Other than carry weight, for what is Stamina useful, for a pure mage that is? I always overlook Stamina for a mage build thinking it's pointless. My character is 78 but Stamina is still 100. You get what I mean. So could you elaborate a bit???
its simple, as a mage character you're going to spend a LOT of time running since so much can kill you so quickly and in case you haven't noticed AI archers never, EVER miss! i've literally watched their arrows hit 2 or 3 paces left or right clearly missing and it STILL registers as a hit, not fair but what can u do except run? therefor its essential to have plenty of stamina so your character can book it when swarmed by surprise parties, when i create a mage i invest every last upgrade into stamina and rely on enchantments to boost my health, this not only gives me plenty of "escape power" but also greatly helps me bank up gold cause i can carry so many salable items, in the long run this has always turned out to be an ass saving decision for me and should be obvious, of course i play on master diff so it may be different for others.. ;)
 

NENALATA

Last King of the Ayleids - RETIRED
I play on Legendary mode, for some reason I always throw the difficulty to the max in these games. Doesn't seem real to me otherwise. :)

Throwing everything at Stamina is a rather poor idea me thinks. I mean sure, you can run alot and you'll be able to haul more gear but Frost Mages have a way of burning thru Stamina like it's going out of style. Then there's a perk which guarantees you won't be able to run away. So once you're "frozen" all that Stamina will very quickly become as useless as a "third wheel on a wagon".

Of course what I'm actually referring to is being forced to walk. I dunno if that's a from a perk or a mod but in my game, this is what happens. Shortly after being attacked by a frost mage, I'm walking it off. Which is why I'm still down with going between Magicka and Health every other lvl because the more Magicka you have, the more power you have to heal with in an in-escapeable situation.

Now that I think about it, I do believe this in the Vanilla game mechanics. Cause the first Necro my High Elf fought a losing battle with and the ONLY means of escape was to literally "fall" off the side of a cliff in a river, hitting everything and anything on the way down because I could barely move from the frost attack(s). And I actually had a lot of Stamina for power attacks too. If I recall correctly, I was amazed at how useless all that Stamina proved to be in that situation and was very thankful that my race was blessed with all that extra Magicka, which bought me enough time to "crawl out of there".

Plan for the worst, I always say. ;)
 

Nighthiker77

Well-Known Member
In my no-equipment build which is a pure mage/sneak archer hybrid with bound bow instead of destruction, on master, I just killed Miraak on the 4th try with 300 magica, 420 health, and 100 stamina.

That is with no potions, no weapons, no robes, and no other enchantments at all. That means no extra regen and no cost reduction. I would have had him the first try if I remembered to pop highborn. The next 2 times he 1hit me with the sword when I fell off the dragon.

Stamina is useless for a mage because sprinting takes so little stamina in clothes and you don't power attack. I guess it would be more important if you refuse to use any stealth, but I think a real mage would be way too smart to ignore stealth.
 

HappyFaceClown

PunkNation
I play on Legendary mode, for some reason I always throw the difficulty to the max in these games. Doesn't seem real to me otherwise. :)

Throwing everything at Stamina is a rather poor idea me thinks. I mean sure, you can run alot and you'll be able to haul more gear but Frost Mages have a way of burning thru Stamina like it's going out of style. Then there's a perk which guarantees you won't be able to run away. So once you're "frozen" all that Stamina will very quickly become as useless as a "third wheel on a wagon".

Of course what I'm actually referring to is being forced to walk. I dunno if that's a from a perk or a mod but in my game, this is what happens. Shortly after being attacked by a frost mage, I'm walking it off. Which is why I'm still down with going between Magicka and Health every other lvl because the more Magicka you have, the more power you have to heal with in an in-escapeable situation.

Now that I think about it, I do believe this in the Vanilla game mechanics. Cause the first Necro my High Elf fought a losing battle with and the ONLY means of escape was to literally "fall" off the side of a cliff in a river, hitting everything and anything on the way down because I could barely move from the frost attack(s). And I actually had a lot of Stamina for power attacks too. If I recall correctly, I was amazed at how useless all that Stamina proved to be in that situation and was very thankful that my race was blessed with all that extra Magicka, which bought me enough time to "crawl out of there".

Plan for the worst, I always say. ;)
if you're getting embarrassed that badly by ice based attacks you must not have any frost resistance at all.. this is why magic resistances are essential for any build, if u got no frost resistance enchants then sure an ice mage will freeze your character right in your tracks but even a mediocre frost resistance enchant will buy u enough time to get out of it before it completely negates your run, and with a higher frost resistant enchant u can more less take ice attacks out of the game. i just assumed everyone knew this, my mistake..
 

AS88

Well-Known Member
Staff member
As a mage with a low armour rating (and possibly low magic resists), ward spells are possibly one of the most underrated form of magic for a mage character. A decent ward can stop so many of this type of spell in its tracks, and you can even begin to absorb their power for your own use with Ward Absorb from the Restoration tree.
 

HappyFaceClown

PunkNation
As a mage with a low armour rating (and possibly low magic resists), ward spells are possibly one of the most underrated form of magic for a mage character. A decent ward can stop so many of this type of spell in its tracks, and you can even begin to absorb their power for your own use with Ward Absorb from the Restoration tree.
i never use wards cause the sacrifices you make to use them just aren't worth it, for example.. you can't duel wield a spell while using wards which means no staggering the enemies, this alone can get u killed but even worse the wards themselves use magicka so its very easy to burn out all magicka before even dealing decent damage, you could use the max enchanting method to make restoration unlimited but whats the point? even if they consumed no magicka their still not effective cause u can't duel wield, i just don't see the point to wards, i've tried using them, they just burn out my magicka pool and get me killed..
 

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